New Love on Top of Old Foundations
by elin2002
Summary: After hearing Rose's story, Lizzie and Brock decide to embark on a romance of their own...


_**(This story is dedicated to the 2,223 people aboard the **__**RMS Titanic**__** when it departed the coast of Ireland in April of 1912 and to the 1,517 of those people who lost their lives April 15, 1912. May you Rest in Peace Forever.)**_

_(I don't own anything related to Titanic, but this story has been bouncing around in my head for a while. I don't know if anyone else has noticed that there seems to be a connection between Lizzie and Brock. While everyone seems to love the Jack and Rose romance including me the thoughts don't come to me for them. Lizzie and Brock speak to me so I hope I do this justice.)_

Lizzie and Brock stayed on deck a while longer, neither seeing Rose drop the necklace off the back of the boat.

Sometime later Lizzie and Brock parted ways and both returned to their cabins, when Lizzie arrived at the cabin she shared with Rose, she discovered that Rose had passed away in her sleep. Lizzie was reminded of something Rose had said that Jack told her before he died. _'You will die an old woman, warm in your bed.'_ Lizzie knew her Nana was now at peace, she had fulfilled all of her promises to her first love and told their story to people that could carry on the legacy. She kissed Rose on the forehead and went off in search of Brock.

"Lewis, where's Brock?" She had only known the man a day but after what they shared in hearing the story of her Nana and the man she loved, it felt right to be on a first name basis with the man.

"He went back to his cabin. What's wrong?" He immediately noticed something is distressing the woman.

"I just need him." She didn't mean to be rude to the man but she felt Brock should be told first and then he would relay it to the crew. Lewis didn't take it personally and knew he would be informed in due time, whether by Lizzie herself or by Brock.

"Come on I'll take you."

Lewis guided Lizzie towards Brock's room. Growing more worried about the woman he just kept moving towards the room his friend was staying in.

"It's right here." Said Lewis. Lizzie wasted no time in knocking on the door.

"Yeah." Said Brock opening the door. "Lizzie what's wrong?"

"It's Nana, she's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Brock asked putting his sweater back on.

"I went back to our room, she passed away in her sleep."

Lewis leaned against the opposite wall shocked at the news, Brock was as well but figured he should be strong for Lizzie's sake.

"Are you sure?" Asked Brock.

"Yeah, what do we do now?" Lizzie knew what she would have done had she been home, but out here in the middle of the ocean she had no idea.

"Lewis go get Mark up. Tell him what's going on. And bring him to the room. Mark is our medic he can legally declare her." He said to Lizzie who nodded in understanding. "Did she ever mention to you how she wanted to be buried?"

"No. She might have left something at home but she never mentioned anything to me."

"Okay well what do you want to do?"

"I think no matter where we bury her, her spirit is already with Jack and their friends. Before all this I would have said my grandfather, but now looking at all her pictures I see she was living for Jack. I don't know maybe that says something." Said Lizzie.

"Brock, what's going on? Hey Lizzie." Said Mark coming into the small room followed by Lewis.

"Mark, Rose passed away." Said Brock.

"Oh no Lizzie, I'm so sorry what do you need me to do?"

"Declare her and I need to coordinate with the home base." Said Brock.

"She should be cremated."

"Lizzie?" Said Lewis.

"I think we should have her cremated and her ashes spread out here if possible." Said Lizzie suddenly.

"Are you sure?" Asked Brock now sitting next to her.

"Yes."

"What about her being buried next your grandfather?" Brock asked.

"He was cremated, there is no headstone. That's why I think she should be scattered here."

"I'll make the arrangements." Said Mark leaving the trio alone.

"Brock? Would you like me to tell everyone?" Asked Lewis.

"No, I'll do it in the morning."

Lizzie and Brock stayed up the rest of the night, both unable to sleep both thinking of Rose's story about her, Jack, and their friends a virtual cross section of people that made up _Titanic's_ story.

"What are you going to do now, I mean Rose said you took care of her."

"Go back to teaching I guess."

"What do you teach?"

"Surprisingly high school history."

"Well if you ever need help let me know."

"I have to get all her papers in order, contact people. Figure out what to do with the house."

"Is there any other family? Your parents? Aunts, Uncles?"

"Nope, none that I know of, my parents died in a car accident when just after I graduated high school, and my aunt passed away a few years ago."

"Well you have family now. This whole ship and you are not getting rid of us any time soon." Said Brock.

The crew was told in the morning of Rose's passing and all day on their way back to land people would stop and pay their respects to Lizzie who stayed in the main area of the _Keldysh_. Since their trip back to land would be short they decided to leave Rose where she laid. By the time they got back everyone was emotionally exhausted but no one left until Rose did. She was brought off the ship with honors usually saved for captains but everyone felt right about giving that honor to Rose. Lizzie didn't return home right away instead she dealt with all of the paperwork by phone from Brock's apartment. He was kind enough to open his home up to her while she dealt with everything. The main reason she hadn't returned home yet was they were due to set sail again on the _Keldysh_ in a few days' time. The owners were nice enough to lend them the boat for this. This time no subs would be launched it was a memorial trip, to return Rose to her love.

Everybody that had been on the ship with them had returned to pay their final respects to this amazing woman who freely told her story for the first time in 84 years to a room of strangers and her granddaughter.

The captain of the ship Robert James came over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and Gentlemen please join us at the stern of the ship as we prepare the ceremony."

In 5 minutes everyone was gathered at the stern and waited patiently for the first speaker, which was Lizzie.

"Hi, I want to thank you all for giving up your personal time to help me say farewell to a woman who I didn't really know until a few days ago. I grew up always knowing that my grandmother was an amazing woman, but until earlier this week I didn't even realize how amazing. She stated when she told us of her story that she had never spoken of her connection to _Titanic_ which we stand above. But now knowing that my grandmother had her first romance aboard and lost her love gives me much more insight into why she did some of the things she did. Many of you have seen the pictures that decorated her state room here. As she told her story I realized that many of the things she did were things she and Jack had spoken about doing, while others were just things I think she thought he would do with her. She was living for both of them, for their friends that they traveled to the boat with or met on board. So today we return her to her friends and her love while we also memorialize them the people that we're not sure have ever been memorialized. So here is to Rose Dawson, Jack Dawson, Fabrizio, and Tommy Ryan who will always be remembered in our hearts. Nana we send to meet up with your love and live on in eternity with him. Good-bye." Lizzie then opened the urn that contained Rose's ashes and watched them float to the ocean below with a freer heart than she thought she would have when this time came. She heard many people utter Amen. The group of about 30 stood in silence for what seemed like forever but in reality was only a few minutes before they left giving Lizzie time to process her next step.

"So when you go back to teaching will it be in California?"

"Probably we have a place near Malibu. My grandfather did well with his business and left my grandmother comfortable. Plus she had her own money from her acting career that she saved. What about you where do you go next will you be coming back here?"

"No, I'm done with _Titanic_, I actually got a job offer to teach at UCLA to teach oceanography courses."

"Are you going to take it?"

"Yeah, I mean I love exploring wrecks but after learning Rose's story I finally let it in and realized that sometimes stories are better left untold or only told to a few people."

"What's going to happen to her things, the things you recovered from her state room? The drawing?" Asked Lizzie with a smile remembering the drawing.

"You have a say. As Rose's next of kin it's completely up to you."

"I think I should keep the drawing, but everything else so go to the most reputable museum we can find. I just Jack's drawing should be kept in the family. They can take a picture of it for cataloguing but I would like the original if possible."

"I'll see what I can do." Said Brock.

"Thank you, for everything."

"You're welcome thank you for helping bring Rose's story to us."

"All I did was turn on the TV that morning. You're the one that showed a naked picture of her to the whole world." Said Lizzie with a smile.

"Well I didn't actually think she was alive when I showed it. I was looking at it as something that happened to be locked in Hockley's safe."

"He was a real bastard wasn't he?" She said with a smile.

"Yeah." Said Brock. "So this is going to sound crazy but when we both get back to California would you maybe want to grab dinner?"

"Yeah, you know when things start settling down I'd love to."

"Good.

Lizzie returned to the house she and Rose shared in Malibu and started the painful process of going through her grandmother's papers and catalouging them she set about cleaning her room. The pictures that once decorated the room would find a new place on the wall of the living room that contained pictures of family members. There was a picture that Lewis had given her just after the scattering that was a picture of all of the people that sat in that small room listening to Rose and Jack's story.

She had week in which to get things settled before she returned to work. Her bosses were more than happy to have her back teaching. She knew Brock had a tape recording of Rose's testimony and would ask him to see if she could have a copy. She didn't see a problem and knew more than likely after it was transcribed she'd be able to get one.

A week after she had returned to teaching Brock called her and informed her that he was now in town and asked to meet her for dinner on the Santa Monica Pier. The meeting place hadn't dawned on them until they both arrived and saw the roller coaster.

"We can go somewhere else if you like?" Said Brock.

"No I've been here many times, just because of Nana's story doesn't mean I'm going to look at places with new hidden meaning, right now it's just the Santa Monica Pier and I'm here on a date with a guy."

"Alright then."

They found a small restaurant on the promenade and settled down talking about their lives before they met and Lizzie told him of her adventures with her students and even with her grandparents she filled in the blanks of Rose's life for him that she knew of and in return he told her of his life up until the last few weeks. They were amazed at how much they had in common and decided to build on that to start a relationship.

They have been married for 15 years now and have 2 children. Lizzie has made sure to teach her students of Titanic and Brock enjoys his teaching at UCLA and his work with Titanic has allowed him to contribute to the new histories and theories that have come about in the last years. They have never told anyone about Rose's story nor do they plan to but they make sure their children know of their heritage and of the people aboard Titanic that died.


End file.
